Email and instant messaging (IM) services are widely used for exchanging information over the Internet. When a user chooses one service provider over another, user-friendliness is undoubtedly an important consideration. For example, current messaging services use text (e.g., the names or email addresses of the senders and recipients) to represent the participants of an email or IM message. This is inconvenient when two participants share similar names (e.g., the same first name). In addition, it is sometimes difficult to infer a participant's identity from the participant's email address (e.g., when the email address does not include the participant's name). Therefore, there is a need for systems and methods that make it easier for message participants to identify the other participants in an exchange of messages.